Editorial

In this issue we are pleased to publish four papers delivered at a
colloquium on Good Governance and Sustainable Development held on 21 August
2009, including the opening address by Justice Thomas von Danwitz of the
European Court of Justice, Luxemburg.

In their paper Anél du Plessis and Christa Rautenbach
of the North-West University (Potchefstroom) suggested that, due to the divergence in the
understanding of the nature of "culture", the roles of "culture" and "cultural
governance" should be distinguished in the context of sustainable development,
"good cultural governance" being a more precise notion.

At the colloquium Loretta Feris
of the University of Cape Town addressed
the questions what, in the South African context, the value choices underlying
government's decisions are and what role sustainable development plays in
informing decisions for good environmental governance.

Nic Olivier, Carin van Zyl and Clara Williams
of the University of
Pretoria reviewed some of the historical strengths and future prospects
concerning rural development in South Africa at the colloquium against the
international and regional background which may be expected to influence the
South African government's response to the development needs of the people in
the country.

Three further contributions on diverse topics appear here:

Tebogo Morajane
of the University of Pretoria sets out to determine who is
bound by the provisions of the constitutive documents of companies under the
South African companies legislation, what the circumstances are which causes
one to being bound by those provisions, and the possible effect thereof on
various parties.

Nomthandazo Ntlama
of the University of South Africa provides an analysis
of the potentially problematic features of the South African Civil Union Act
of 2006 in the context of equality within the realm of the constitutional
protection afforded to everyone in South Africa. The examination of the
quality of the legal protection is done with specific reference to same-sex
couples.

Finally Jeannie Van Wyk
of the University of South Africa reflects
critically on a recent judgment of the South African Supreme Court of Appeal
in which the concurrent legislative allocation of decisive authority to
provincial and municipal authorities regarding planning and development was
found to be invalid.

Recent Submissions

This note offers a critical reflection of the recent landmark decision in City of
Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality v Gauteng Development Tribunal
which lay to rest the negative consequences of employing the DFA ...

The adoption of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 (the
Constitution) has provided a sound framework for the elimination of
discrimination and prejudice against all members of our society. The
Constitution ...

This contribution examines the provisions of the constitutive documents of
companies under two specific provisions, namely s 65(2) of the Companies Act
61 of 1973 and s 15(6) of the Companies Act 71 of 2008. The aim is ...

This article provides an overview of some developments, internationally,
regionally and in the SADC, in relation to development, that may be expected to
influence the South African government’s response to the development ...

This note is based on the author’s guest presentation delivered at the Konrad-
Adenauer Foundation/North-West University (Faculty of Law) Colloquium on 21
August 2009. Justice von Danwitz was invited to set the scene for ...

This article seeks to analyse good governance decision-making in the
environmental context through an understanding and interpretation of the
relationship between good environmental governance (evidenced inter alia ...

This article introduces some legal perspectives on the role of culture in
sustainable development. The authors agree that sustainable development has
been designed as an environmental concept but that room exists for the ...